After holding him captive for two months, the Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF) let the UNHCR official John Solecki free on Saturday, April 04, 2009. The authorities found Solecki in Khadkhutcha, about 50 km south of the provincial capital Quetta. The spokesman for BLUF, Mir Shahiq Baloch, told a local news agency that Solecki had been released on humanitarian grounds and to prove that the Baloch are not terrorists.

John Solecki, an American national, is the head of the UNHCR office in Quetta. He was abducted on 2nd February 2009, from the outside his residence, after the armed abductors shot his driver dead. According to Shahiq Baloch, the purpose of Solecki’s abduction was to drive the UN’s attention towards the plight of the Baloch nation of which thousands were suffering in torture cells. Shahiq also mentioned that Solecki was being freed to show respect to the plea of Baloch leaders like Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and Nawabzada Harbiyar Marri.

Shahiq Baloch also expressed complete distrust in Pakistani authorities. According to a new post, published in The Nation (April 05 2009), Shahiq said that Pakistani authorities wanted Solecki to die in the custody of BLUF so that the Baloch may be proved as terrorists. For this, the authorities used delaying tactics, purporting to let Solecki’s ill health cause his death in BLUF’s custody. Shahiq said that he expected that the UN and other humanitarian organizations would help in recovering thousands of missing Baloch people.

The UNHCR’s High Commissioner Antonius Guterres expressed his happiness and relief over Solecki’s release by the BLUF. He thanked all those who have been involved in Making Solecki’s release possible. He told that the UNHCR would continue its humanitarian efforts in Pakistan.